I draw

D MUSEUM is pleased to present I draw, a special group exhibition featuring multiple aspects of drawing in our contemporary times by comprising over 350 works of drawing, illustration, object, animation, and installation from 16 internationally recognized artists noted for their unique interpretations.

Drawing has been applied throughout history not only to record the human conditions of different times but also to express individuals’ unique ideas. Today, drawing has been expanded and reconceptualized as a flexible and receptive means of personal expression and sharing. With its expansion into the online realm, drawing has been brought ever closer to our lives. This exhibition will delve into the diversity and modernity of the drawing practice by showcasing in an omnibus format the inspired thinking of the participating artists, who will spark the viewer’s curiosity by presenting familiar territory as new, heterotopia-style scenes or by describing the journey to one’s innermost self.

Featured artists include Eomyujeong, who approaches and collects new, unfamiliar scenery and objects around her through her artistic practice; the master illustrator Pierre Le-Tan who designed covers for The New Yorker as a teenager; Oamul Lu, known for his luscious renderings of people and the passing seasons in the forthright colors and shapes; Unskilled Worker, Gucci’s muse and prodigious artist draws pure, compelling characters and stories hidden in various symbols; Kristelle Rodeia, who places women as the main protagonists to highlight their purity, beauty, cheerfulness, and humor; Hajime Sorayama, known for his iconic illustrations of metal robots and machine fantasies that he has built for over 40 years; Ram Han, who translates the nostalgia of her youth and the boundaries between the real and unreal into psychedelic digital paintings; the nature-minded, keenly observant artist Katie Scott, recognized for the elaborate minutiae of her botanical illustrations inspired by real and imagined objects; the versatile artist Faye Toogood, who works with furniture, object, fashion, and drawing and whose pieces manage to convey a fundamental emotion with her autobiographical stories and the simplicity of form and material; Hattie Stewart, who continues to expand her horizons with her signature, colorfully stylized and patterned doodles and the quirky characters that are at the heart of her Doodlebomb project; Cho Kyuhyung, whose Pictograph Font awaken those creative moments that exist between language and image; Shin Morae, with her illustrations of the everyday lives of youth drawn in dreamy palettes of pink, orange, and purple; Moonassi, whose refined illustrations in black ink tell stories of the artist himself and what lies in the boundary between self and other; Kim Youngjun, with his narratives on relationships expressed as earthy, hand-drawn style animation; Stefan Marx, active in the fields of painting, music, and fashion with his humor-filled drawings and typography infused with the creative energy of youth culture; and Juliette Binet, whose lyrical, fantastically illustrated books tell deliberately slow-paced stories.

Since its opening in 2015, D MUSEUM has engaged audiences with innovative exhibition layouts; for I draw, various indoor and outdoor spaces have been outfitted in the exhibition grounds with window, garden, drawing room, and other motifs that create unfamiliar but fantastical experiences, and which have inspired the 16 featured artists. Architect Kwon Kyungmin designed the space layout, while COM and Craft Bro. Company created the scenography for selected artists’ spaces. The professional perfumers behind tamburins, who were inspired by the artworks on view, created a series of scents devoted to the exhibition. The music creative group Space Oddity and their carefully chosen artists’ sounds set the musical ambience. Together, these offer multisensory experience for audiences to engage with the exhibition in a distinctive way.

I draw offers a refreshing break from the flood of digital images in the form of delicately subtle sensibilities that are not easily to capture together with extraordinary stories presented by the artists. The audience will imagine new stories and sensations going beyond the visible while rediscovering the simple yet fabulous act of drawing.